The Charming Fox
by Kushinada Uzumaki
Summary: AU: Kaya 'Phoenix' Uzumaki and her little brother, Menma, won the Fourth Shinobi War, but secrets have been revealed. Kaya isn't the daughter of Minato and Kushina, her birth family are beyond the barrier of the Elemental Nations. She's Phoenix Kaya Halliwell, the fourth Halliwell sister.
1. A Phoenix is Born

**AN: So I actually have a few new stories, information for them is on my website, most haven't been uploaded yet but this was has been on my mind for a while. **

**It's a Charmed/Naruto crossover, an odd crossover, but something that's been on my mind since I began re-watching charmed on Netflix. In any case, this is the first chapter, and I'll update it soon as I can, after which I'll update some of my other stories on here. I'm currently working on Child of Balance, and a few others, such as Broken Hearts and Moonlit Night. **

**In any case I hope you like this idea, we'll see where it goes from here. **

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**The Charming Fox**

**Chapter 1: A Phoenix Is Born. **

**Outside the Barrier; **

**San Francisco, California;**

**February 15****th****, 1976:**

Patty couldn't believe it; pregnant, again. She had simply thought she had a bug, there was one going around, Piper had suffered through it not two days ago. She didn't know what possessed her to go to a doctor (other than the puking, and other systems that led her to believe it was a persistent flu bug), but when he asked her if she could be pregnant she had almost fainted.

It wasn't something she thought about, it hadn't been more than three months since her youngest baby was born, but it was possible even though she was on the pill. She had been on the pill when she conceived Piper, so why not?

Smiling softly she laid her hands on her stomach and chuckled. Another baby, she frowned though, could she and Victor afford another baby? Did Victor even want another baby; gasping Patty ran to her nightstand and looked for her planner. Pulling it out she looked at the last month of projects she had done.

The Doctor had said she was about a month along, so that meant her baby was conceived around new years. Her marriage with Victor was quickly going to the dumps, and she had fought with him around new years. She had stormed out in the end, going to a bar in town.

Patty Halliwell had never been unfaithful until that night. She didn't even know why she allowed it, she couldn't even remember most of it. She had been with Victor as well, not even twenty-five hours later, so now she was at a stalemate.

Getting up she slowly walked to her door, Victor was away, at work and her mother was probably somewhere in the house. She'd know what to do, she always did. Besides, there was a bigger chance the baby was Victors, but that 10 percent left open, she wouldn't admit that it scared her.

"Mother!" Patty called as she walked out of her room.

She didn't have to go far, just to Phoebe's nursery and her mother was just exiting it. Penny raised a eyebrow at her daughter and asked, partly amused.

"You trying to wake the baby Patty? What is it darling?"

Patty sighed and moved a strand of her light brown hair out of her face.

"Mom...I'm Pregnant." Patty said bluntly, and Penny looked at her like she had just announced she was a three headed dragon.

Penny then burst into laughter only to stop after seeing her daughter serious face.

"Oh my god, you're serious." It was more a statement then a question but it got the point across.

"Yep." Patty said, popping the 'P'.

"But..how...its only been two...three months since you had Phoebe," Penny said, and Patty chuckled and smiled a little.

"I'm sure you know how it happened mom, but I have a confession to make," she answered, and Penny's eyes widened.

"Oh god...its not Sam's is it?" Penny asked, and Patty looked at her mother shocked, a light blush on her face.

"MOM!" She said in annoyance.

Penny put her hands up in a 'I surrender' position, and Patty sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No, but the baby may not be Victors, I mean there is a big chance she is, but I may have gotten a little to drunk after our last fight and...well." She trailed off waving her hands over her stomach to indicate her pregnancy.

Penny sighed, hooked her arm with Patty's, and the two began heading downstairs.

"Well, there isn't a thing we can do but hope she looks like you more then Victor." Penny said, and Patty pursed her lips and looked at her mother in annoyance.

"MOM!"

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**Eight Months Later; **

**October 10th, 1976: **

"Oh God, _WHAT WAS I THINKING!_" A blood curdling scream sounded around the Halliwell Manor, the labor had hit Patty unexpectedly, and she been in too much pain to move from her spot on the couch. In the end the labor had come too quickly for her to get to the Hospital.

The girls thankfully were at a friends house having a slumber party, while Phoebe was being coed to sleep in Victors arms. Phoebe was very impressionable, only eleven months old now, and the moment Patty had went into labor she had started screaming her lungs raw.

"Well, I think it was along the lines of pleasure before duty..." Penny began as she laid the warm towels around her daughter, one laying on top of her large stomach.

Patty sat up slightly as she glared.

"Not funny Mother, now I understand why you only had me..." Patty said as she moaned in pain.

She didn't remember the other girls hurting as much, well other than Prue's, but that had been her first child. She'd heard the first was usually the worst.

"Victor make yourself useful." Penny said as she waved her hand in a dismissing form.

Victor snorted and rolled his Hazel eyes before leaving the room with Phoebe. He was on the second landing headed to the nursery when his wife screamed.

"VICTOR! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

He winced, he remembered being at his other daughters births but Patty hadn't been so loud when having those three. With Phoebe she had been relatively calm and collected only giving grunts and maybe a small scream or two. Prue had been harder because it had been her first pregnancy, and Piper was mildly hand breaking, literally, but Patty had never screamed so loud during birth. He was surprised his ears were not bleeding.

"Putting Phoebe to bed, I don't know about you, but I don't think she needs to be seeing this." Victor replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Penny shot him a glare and he continued on as his wife continued to scream.

"Push, I can see the head now dear," Penny urged as she knelled between her daughters legs. It was a bit of an odd positioning, considering Patty was laying on a couch so Penny was leaning over one arm.

"I am...pushing...AHHH!" Patty screamed as she gave one long hard push, and Penny laughed and continued on.

"The head's out, and the shoulders... one more pushed...1...2...3...PUSH!" Penny encouraged, and Patty screamed as she pushed one more time and then a few seconds later crying was heard.

Penny grabbed a towel and wiped her newest granddaughter off, made sure she was breathing properly. Once she was finished making sure everything was fine she went over to Patty, the baby wrapped in the purple blanket with an orange P embroidered on it, and handed her to Patty. Victor was rushing down the stairs as well, having gotten Phoebe to fall asleep, finally.

"Oh Victor, isn't she beautiful," Patty asked as she held her new daughter.

Penny went about cleaning up, and smiled slightly at her daughter and her mortal son-in-law. Victor grinned as he knelled down beside her, and looked into the newborn baby blue eyes of his newest daughter. Her eyes would most likely change to brown, or maybe the green Prue's were. He did feel saddened, knowing his and Patty's marriage was on the edge of breaking apart.

"She is, she looks a little like Prue as a baby," he said, though she had much lighter hair, similar to Phoebe's currently.

Patty laughed and nodded, it was true, the on big difference was the nose, but even they were similar.

"What are we going to name her?" Patty asked.

While she had named Prue and Phoebe, Victor had named Piper, she thought it only proper he get to name this one to.

"Kaya?" Victor suggested, and Penny let out a huge snort, very unladylike.

Patty frowned at her mother, Patty knew for a fact that Kaya was Victor's mother's name.

"Sorry Penny, How about Pamela?" Victor asked and Patty wrinkled her nose up.

Penny followed suit.

"In this day and age?" Patty asked, or more like scolded. "Besides, I had a cousin named Pamela, didn't much care for her."

Victor chuckled, and looked down into the face of the newest Halliwell and smirked.

"Phoenix? Phoenix Kaya Halliwell," Victor declared, and Patty smiled. Victor was sure he even caught a small grin on his mother-in-laws face before it vanished.

"I love it...like the stories I was told as a child." Patty said and kissed her youngest daughters forehead. "Welcome, Phoenix Kaya Halliwell."

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**AN: So, here is the first chapter. I hope you liked it so far, also for the birth scene, well I've never seen a real birth or anything, so this was just from what I do know of movies, and some other sources. It's as accurate as I can get it in any case.**


	2. From The Ashes

**AN: So, I had a review asking about if this would be more in the Naruto world or Charmed world. **

**I will try to include both as much as possible, but mostly this is set in the Charmed world. A part of the plot is reuniting Phoenix with her sister's, but she'll still have interaction with the Elemental Nations as well. **

**I hope that this chapter is enjoyed. **

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**The Charming Fox**

**Chapter 2: From the Ashes**

**Elemental Nations: Konohagakure no Sato; **

**April, 1999; **

**Twenty-two years later: **

Tsunade stared at her best ninja in dawning horror, the blonde looked very serious though. Ever since the war ended a year ago she'd changed, not much, but the Fourth Shinobi War had forced Phoenix to mature that little bit more than being a ninja did everyone.

That tended to happen during a war, people saw others die, comrades, family, close friends...Tsunade remembered the trauma of wartime all too well. She'd lived through three after all.

"Can you repeat that, Kaya?" Tsunade asked, not using the name which everyone assumed was a nickname, to show just how serious she was.

Tsunade was one of the very few people who knew the truth of Phoenix's origins. Since a young age the girl had lived in Konoha, but she hadn't been born there, and Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze were not her birth parents. Nor was Menma Uzumaki the girls younger brother, not biologically anyways.

Both had lived a harsh life though, and even if Phoenix wasn't Kaya Uzumaki from birth, it was the name she'd gone by, publicly at least. To those close enough she was Phoenix, and she always had been.

Phoenix pursed her lips further into a thin line as she brushed stray strands of her near waist length hair back. Memories of her past, before she'd come to live with her distant cousin, Kushina, flooding her mind.

"_Phoenix Kaya Halliwell, you give that back to your sister now!"_

"_Nixie, want to come play tea party?"_

"_Your mommy was a wonderful woman Phoenix, she was the bravest one I knew."_

"_You and Prue, so alike it's scary."_

"_No, you can't have my granddaughter!"_

"_Evil Demon begone!"_

"_Grams!" _

"_This is for your own good Phoenix, someday you'll reunite with your sisters. You have a destiny just like them. Just you wait and see." _

"_From now until it's now again, with my dying breath that is, erase her memories, they can not stay. Take away her life until today." _

"_Take care of her, Kushina, Minato."_

"_We will, she'll be safe as Kaya Uzumaki." _

Just some of the memories which had returned when she'd met her adoptive mother inside the seal which once held Kurama. Kushina might not have been a witch, being so distantly related and through the paternal side, and not the warren side, but she knew how to restore her memories.

A year early at that, she had been twenty-one then, and from what she'd found out through Jiraiya's spy network linked to the outside, her grams hadn't died until March of the next year. The shock of realizing a lot of her life had been a lie, even if she'd known she'd been adopted, was a blow.

Phoenix understood though, her grams had taken protecting her to the extreme.

Altering her appearance slightly, brightening her hair a little to be closer to Minato's (though it was already a pretty golden blonde color, just not as bright and yellow-like as Minato's), and turning her eyes more blue than the green they naturally were (though there were light blue flecks floating in them as well, they were just predominantly green). Other than that she looked how she remembered, sans the now faint whisker marks on her cheeks.

Through her sources she'd learned the truth behind why she was given to Kushina and Minato, it was to protect her from her biological father, and the Source. At first she'd been confused, her birth father was a mortal man, Victor, and he'd left her, and her sisters when she was still very young, barely two months before she'd turn two. He was practically invisible.

The last time she remembered seeing him was a few months before Grams sent her to Konoha, and that was because Penny had decided to let him know the truth of where she was being sent. considering her father and grams never really got along, she didn't understand now why her grams had gone to the trouble.

She'd learned the hard way that her mother, Patty, was never sure of her biological father. She'd made a mistake one night after a fight with Victor, and had a one night stand with someone. She hardly remembered it. When Phoenix was young, just a baby, she'd developed her first power, and it was obvious Victor wasn't her father.

A power not of the Warren line or of witches; shimmering. It was a demonic power, which was ironic since she'd lived through years of Konoha calling her a demon, and it turned out she was. Half-demon at least.

Her father was a demon called Desmond, he'd attacked the Manor when she was nearly five in order to kidnap her, raise her to work for the Source of all Evil, and later become the Source's Queen.

Even if she was half witch, it was determined by them that being a Halliwell witch meant she'd be powerful. The first time a full demon and a witch had reproduced, in known history at least. Definitely the first time a Warren witch had a child with a demon. After the attack her grams knew she had to hide her, somewhere where no demon would think to look.

There was a reason The Elemental Nations didn't have demons, or many at least, other than the Bijū.

The barrier was strong, and only those who knew how could come and go through it. Not to mention it was common knowledge that the people residing beyond the barrier had factions of powerful humans. Humans which could give witches, demons and other magical creatures, a run for their money.

She wasn't sure how grams had explained her disappearance, but she'd apparently accomplished it.

"I'm retiring," Phoenix said, coming out of her thoughts. "I...I've thought about it a lot since the war ended, and I've made my decision."

"You're sure?" Tsunade asked. "I thought you wanted to be Hokage, brat."

Phoenix smiled, and shook her head. The village may have come to see her as a person, her and Menma, but it wasn't her dream anymore. It never truly had been. Her dream had been to be recognized as a person, to have them acknowledge her existence, and she'd done that.

Though she'd kept the fact she'd released Kurama from the seal, under the terms of a summoning contract, and that he didn't cause trouble on the dimension outside other summons. Though not common knowledge the Bijū had there own dimension, much as some, if not most, summon animals did. It had been set up after the Rikudō Sennin created them from the Jubi.

"Menma was the one who always wanted to be Hokage, and though it was something I boasted, I was never to optimistic of actually becoming Hokage. Not with my foxy little problem."

True, she'd never been overly optimistic that they'd allow her to become Hokage. Gaara was a rare occurrence, and had the backing of his siblings, and being the child of the Yondaime. She may have been adopted by the Yondaime Hokage, but she didn't have a blood right to the title, only Menma did.

Menma also didn't have the backing needed to pull what Temari and Kankurō had for Gaara, though Gaara had by no means become Kazekage through birthright or shortcuts.

She'd moved forward from that dream, and now knowing of her sisters, she couldn't stay in Konoha anymore. She'd stayed to the end of the war, and months more than she probably should have. Her sister's were already witches for a year, from what her contacts said about The Charmed Ones.

She'd already talked to her friends and family about this. Menma had been sad to find she wasn't his sister by blood, but reassured her that it didn't matter. She was still his sister, and they were distantly related through his mother, Kushina.

Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother (Itachi had been her classmate in the Academy, and best friend), and she'd treated him as a younger brother, much as she did Menma, after the Uchiha Massacre. Before as well, but after the Massacre she realized Sasuke needed someone to care and be there, though he hadn't been to receptive in the beginning.

Being the avenger he proclaimed to be, still she and Menma hardly took no for an answer. Phoenix didn't want Sasuke to fall into the darkness that she knew he was heading towards.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to stop him from defecting from the village, but she had helped her brother convince him to return during the fourth war.

He'd shown he meant his words when he'd been a driving force in defeating Madara, and saved many lives, including her own and Menma's when they'd come extremely close to a fatal wound. Though in the beginning she'd had a hard time being around Sasuke, knowing he'd had a hand in killing Itachi, yet she knew it wasn't entirely his fault.

Itachi hadn't died from Sasuke's attempts alone, he'd let himself die and the effects of his Mangekyō Sharingan added onto this factor. She'd moved passed this a long time ago, though she still missed Itachi gravely.

The rest of Team Seven were also told, and no doubt the word would spread across the Rookie Nine and Konoha. She'd miss Konoha, mostly her brother, and friends, but she'd made her decision. She had to leave.

"I see," Tsunade said. "I take it Team Seven knows."

"Yes," she replied. "I'll keep in contact as much as I can, but I leave tomorrow, at the latest."

"I can't convince you otherwise?"

"I'm sorry, Baa-chan, but no."

Tsunade nodded, and pulled out a file from her desk, Phoenix's file. She kept the most important and classified files in her desk under a seal. People such as S-rank shinobi of Konoha, and Menma and Phoenix because their relations to Minato and Kushina were top secret before now, and the fact Phoenix had been a jinchūriki.

Subconsciously she also suspected Phoenix would leave one day, knowing she still had sister's alive outside the barrier.

"Alright, Kaya Uzu..." Tsunade stopped, frowned and then continued. "Phoenix Kaya Halliwell, also known as Kaya Uzumaki, you are hereby retired."

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Phoenix entered the apartment she shared with her brother with a sigh. Soon this place would be left for Menma, and she knew she would miss it.

She had a lot of good memories here, like the time Menma tried to cook when she was too tired from training to and nearly burnt down the kitchen.

Menma had been born when she was five, not long after she'd moved to Konoha with Minato and Kushina. Than Madara had come and released Kyūbi, Menma was ironically born on the same day as her, October 10th, it would also be the day their parents (and they had been like parents to her) had died.

Even at only five at the time, she still remembered the Kyūbi attack with clarity.

It was kind of hard to forget, even more so when the villagers reminded her of it everyday. Since she'd convinced Minato and Kushina to use her in the sealing, knowing she'd survive thanks to the little Uzumaki blood she did have. No to mention her demon blood made her a much better choice than her brother, it didn't hurt that she was also a witch. A Warren witch at that.

Walking into the bathroom, she stood at the sink, and washed her hands in order to take her mind off things. She tended to do random things when nervous or when she was deep in thought, to try and take her mind off stressful situations.

Looking in the mirror she pushed her hair behind her ear, it laid around her face with a slight wave, otherwise it was straight. When she was younger she wore hair-clips on both sides, similar to Kushina-kaachan, in order to keep the hair more obedient and out of her face.

She'd stopped wearing them a few years back, when she was about nineteen. Now she simply let it fall naturally, unless she took time to style it in one way or another.

Since she'd regained her memories, and the spell her grams had placed wore off by the time of her death, Phoenix's hair had paled from the golden-yellow blonde, like Minato-tousan and Menma's, to a lighter, but equally as pretty golden blonde. Her eyes had lost most the blue and become a light green-blue (predominately green) color.

On her left pointer-finger was a ring, sort of like a class ring but was actually a signet ring that was passed to the eldest male heir of the Uchiha clan head's family. Itachi had given it to her before he'd left Konoha when they were thirteen.

She'd worn it on a chain until she was eighteen when she'd reunited with him for a short time and feelings were confessed. After that she'd begun wearing it on her left hand, using seals to allow it to shrink and adjust to her ring size. It would re-size itself to the original size once removed.

Phoenix was lithely built, curvy and muscular in a feminine way from all the training she'd done in the last sixteen years of being a Kunoichi. She was 5'7, rather on the tall side.

She wore a black kimono top with one long sleeve, which was loose, wide and a few inches past her elbow. A dark orange obi tightly around her waist, and a pair of black shorts, and shinobi boots that were about two inches past her knees. There were metal plates on the shins of her boots, and she wore fingerless elbow length black gloves with metal plates as well.

Her forehead protector had been removed from it's usual place around her forehead and moved. It was now placed in one of her hip pouches, for safe keeping now that she was retired. She would have to get all new clothes once on the outside, but until then she could conjure some; she still didn't have the best control with that power though.

"Nix, you home?"

Grabbing a hair-band and pulling her long hair into a low ponytail, Phoenix exited the bathroom.

"I'm here," she said, entering the kitchen where she found her brother at the fridge.

Menma was five years younger than her, and would turn eighteen when she turned twenty-three on October 10th. He looked almost like a mirror image of Minato-tousan, but with paler skin like Kushina-kaachan, a slightly rounder chin, and the same deep violet eyes as Kushina-kaachan.

His blond hair, just as bright as Minato-tousan's, was also a little longer, but just as spiky. It was pulled back in a low, short spiky ponytail – without the binding it was three or so inches past his shoulders. Still, Menma was shorter than Minato-tousan, only 5'9, though barely, and he had a slighter build.

This was because of lack of food before they got their own apartment, and she'd begun taking care of the food they ate (half of which was freshly grown by her on the roof, in a small greenhouse the Hokage had helped her build).

Later, after it was broken into one too many times, she finally learned a seal to keep people out. Despite the somewhat hard times growing up, It was mostly due to the fact he was a premature baby to begin with, that he was on the short and slight side.

Kushina had gone into labor a month before her due date, which was November 19th originally. No one was sure why, but those things happened, so no one really questioned it at the time. Despite being on the small side at birth, Menma was healthy, his Uzumaki blood and the fact Kushina was a jinchūriki probably helped with that.

"Do we have any peaches in here, Ino want's to make a peach cobbler," he said.

She smirked, noticing the subtle wince he gave at his own words. She didn't blame him, the last time his girlfriend had cooked anything she'd given everyone food poisoning, expect herself somehow. She made the oddest thing and ruined the simplest dishes, Phoenix didn't know how the girl pulled it off. Cooking wasn't exactly a rocket science.

"Why doesn't she just go to the store?"

Menma shut the fridge door and, turned, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't know, hormones maybe? I'm not a mind reader, sis," he said, shrugging.

She chuckled, making a come hither motion with her middle and pointer finger; a bowl of peaches shot from the top of the fridge, and was set on the small round table Menma now leaned on with one hand.

"Oh, cool," he muttered, and picked up one of the peaches.

Looking at his sister, he noticed she wasn't wearing her headband and sighed. It had been a week since she'd explained to him that she needed to leave, to see her older sisters again. He'd admit he was jealous. Phoenix was his sister, she'd always been his sister, for eighteen years now, and to find out she was leaving hurt.

He did understand, at first he hadn't, but now he did. Kakashi-sensei had helped him come to terms with it on some level, after he talked to the Copy ninja soon after Phoenix had dropped her news on him.

Sasuke he reacted a bit better, though still it was obvious he didn't like loosing the only sister figure he had, another connection to his life before the Massacre. Sakura was saddened, she too saw their sometimes-sensei as an older sister figure; even Sai seemed a little more emotional that she was leaving, which was amazing since the pale boy usually had the emotional range of a brick.

"You're leaving soon, huh?"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, asking, "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're not wearing your forehead protector," he replied. "In that case, the others and I pulled some money together and had this made for you."

Phoenix watched curiously as her brother pulled out a wrapped box from his hip pouch, which he handed to her. She tore off the orange paper, and white ribbon and lifted the lid off the small box. Inside was a silver chain, with a Konoha leaf symbol at the end. She smiled, and gave the taller boy a quick one arms hug.

"It's wonderful, Menma, thank you," she said, and clasped it around her neck.

Twitching her nose slightly in the way she was prone to doing when she was up to something or had an idea, Phoenix cupped her hands together and visualized exactly what she wanted.

In a soft crimson glow a silver chain appeared in her hands. At the end of the chain was a circular disc with a fox engraved on it. One of her favorite powers, conjuration, which was only limited to her imagination, but she didn't quite have the skill or experience to do anything big or flashy with it.

Truthfully, she usually only used it for conjuring weapons and other such things. It had come in handy during the war. She remembered how Grams would remind her not to abuse or neglect her powers, that they were gifts given for a reason. It was one of the lessons she'd taken to heart.

"Here, a gift to remember me by. I'll shimmer in as much as I can, but it'll be such a long distance, added to shimmering through the barrier, I won't be able to make it every week."

Menma smiled, taking the pendant, and pulling it over his head to hang around his neck. After thanking her, Menma excused himself, knowing his girlfriend would be expecting the peaches sooner than later.

Phoenix retreated to her room to finish packing the things she would take with her.


	3. Phoenix's Return, Prue's Demons

**AN: So, I want to thank those who've read, and reviewed and the like. **

**Anyways, this chapter goes into the Charmed world more, and is written around season 2 episode P3 H20. Not all episodes will be seen in the story, I'll pick and choose from the most important and my personal favorites, but there will also be a lot that's original and different.**

**For those who haven't realized yet, this is a Itachi/Fem!Naru pairing, as for how that will happen seeing as Itachi did die, you'll have to wait and see.  
**

**Hopefully you all like this chapter. One last thing, my website, linked on my profile, has more information on this story for those interested and the website is updated randomly.**

**Anyway, enjoy. **

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**The Charming Fox.**

**Chapter 3: Phoenix's Return, Prue's Demons. **

**Outside The Barrier;**

**July, 1999;**

**Camp Skylark: **

Prue had a habit of coming to the camp since she was able to drive on her own, not that she ever told her sisters, not wanting to bring up the subject.

Standing there looking out at the lake she could feel her green eyes begin to fill with tears as she starts remembering her mother's death.

_It would have been a normal afternoon at Camp Skylark if it wasn't for the sirens you could hear all around the lake. There's police cars, and an ambulance parked around them. As Prue looks around, as if looking for someone, she finally see's Patty lying on the dock in a body bag with three people knelled down next to her._

"_This is the third drowning this year," A medic says as he looks over at one of the other men. "If I believed in curses..." _

"_Well, we know it wasn't a curse. Did anyone see it happen?" The policeman that the medic addressed asked, but all he received was a negative shake of the head. _

_Sighing one of the guys, the one who had been quiet until this point looked to the side only to see a small girl, maybe 8 years of age with chin length straight brunette hair, and green eyes standing on the dock._

"_Is that her little girl?" the cop asks, and then orders, "Get her away from here. She doesn't need to see her mom like this." _

_From behind her another policeman moves to the girls side, kneeling in front of her. _

"_Mommy!" Prue yells, a look of confusion in her wide eyes as she stares at where her mother laid on the ground. _

"_Are you Prue? Your Grams said we'd find you. Why don't you come back with me, okay?" The guy says as he picks her up, and carries her off the dock. _

_As they go Little Prue reaches out with one hand and screams in desperation. _

"_Mommy! Mommy!"_

Prue comes back to reality and she swallows back a sob, tears running down her face. As she pushes a bit of her dark hair behind her ear she wipes her face, and her phone begins to ring. Sniffing and wiping her face once more she pulls out her black phone and flips it open and presses it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Prue, are you still on the road?" Piper's voice comes over the phone questioningly, and Prue rubs her temples wearily.

"Oh, yeah, traffic's insane today."

"Some guy called from Bucklands. I thought you'd be back from the estate sale already. I was just calling to see if you and my car were okay."

Prue smirks.

"Yeah, we're fine," she says, and frowns as she hears the beep come over the phone.

"Oh, that's um, that's probably Dan," Piper says, an almost shy tone in her voice.

Prue chuckles, and with a smirk replies, **"**You know, he does live like twenty feet away. You guys could always get walkie talkies, two cans, a string. Maybe even take a walk?"

"Point taken, mom," Piper says, and Prue frowns as she looks back over at the lake and dock.

"Um, alright, go talk to your boy, I'll see you later," Prue says.

Piper says her goodbyes and after Prue hangs up, she starts walking towards the dock. She stands on the start of it, looking out over the waters.

A few seconds later Prue blinks, a little surprised when she sees what looks like a cop or security guard (though he's too far out to tell for sure) in a canoe again, but the water starts bubbling next to it.

It seemed so sudden that he falls from the canoe, and Prue runs along the edge of the water in order to try and help. The guy tries to get out of the water, but he just seems to be pulled down further the more he struggled.

Just as she was about to do something more another man runs up to Prue.

"No, it's too late. It's already taken him," the guy yells grabbing a hold of Prue to stop her from entering the water.

She looks at him in disbelief, and shock at his sudden appearance, but then looking back out to the water where the man is nowhere to be seen. She bites the inside of her cheek and sighs.

"Just call 911," she says as she turns back to the man, only to find him gone.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Back at the Manor, Piper's now on the phone talking to Dan, and nearly running down the stairs into the kitchen. Phoebe's already there reading the paper, though she looks up as Piper enters. She sits down at the table beside Phoebe, and pours cereal into a bowl.

"Pouring," Piper says, and Phoebe can barely hear Dan answering back.

"Uh, chewing."

"I can't believe you eat that stuff," Piper replies as she pours milk onto her cereal with a laugh.

"I can't believe you guys are killing me with cuteness over here," Phoebe speaks up from her seat, flipping to a different page in the paper.

Piper looks over at Phoebe with a frown, and slight glare before pulling the phone away from her ear to rest in the crook of her neck.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, somewhere very far away," she states more than asks, and Phoebe narrows her eyes and scoots closer so she is in better hearing range.

Piper rolls her eyes, sighs, and puts the phone back to her ear.

"What do you say tomorrow, when Jenny's at school, we have breakfast for real?" Dan asked.

"I'll take what I can get," Piper says as she glares down at Phoebe from the peripheral of her vision.

"Nausea?" Phoebe quips from her side, and Piper frowns.

Phoebe and Piper both look up when Prue walks in.

"Prue, what are you doing home?" Phoebe asks. " You told Piper that you were heading into the office."

Prue walks over and sets her bag on the table, an uneasy look on her face.

"Well, things changed," she said, and Piper frowns even more as she turns back to her phone conversation.

"Uh, Dan, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to call you back," she said.

Dan answered quickly, "Okay."

She hangs up, placing the cordless in front of her, and turns her attention back to Prue.

"This is going to sound crazy, but I saw something or someone drown, and it was anything but natural," Prue began.

"On the freeway?" Piper asked incredulously, raising a eyebrow. "You saw someone drown on the freeway?"

"No, up at the lake," Prue said, shifting on her feet and looking very guilty.

"Oh, okay, wait a minute. The lake as in _the _lake, where mum was killed?" Phoebe asked looking very annoyed with her sister.

"You said you were stuck in traffic," Piper said making Prue shift in even more guilt.

She rand a hand through her dark brown locks of hair, and answered, "Yeah, I was after the lake. I just go there sometimes to think."

Piper and Phoebe stood up, and they moved around the table.

"You never told us that," Phoebe said while they walked past the dinning room, and up the stairs.

"Because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Anyway, this isn't about mum, alright. I saw someone get pulled under, I tried to help him but this man stopped me and said "Its already taken him"," Prue said.

"Do you think he knows what happened?" Piper asked, and Prue shrugged.

"He could," Prue said as they all walked into her bedroom, "Which means I need to get to Bucklands to drop stuff off, and then get back to that lake," she finishes as she goes into her closet.

"Wait a minute, Prue, aren't you kind of missing the point? How can you think that what ever you saw didn't have something to do with how mom died?" Phoebe asked, and Prue stood back up straight, and dropped a duffel-bag on the bed.

"Look, we need to stop worrying about the past, and start dealing with the present. They're re-opening camp," Prue says, and she turns back around.

"I thought they closed it the summer that mom…" Phoebe trailed off as Piper and Prue both looked down before Prue answered.

"Exactly, And no one has been allowed in the lake since, and if there's something in it, killing, then the last thing we need is a lake full of kids."

"Well, how do we find the guy that stopped you?" Phoebe asked.

Piper asked from beside her. "What about the woman who used to run the camp? Mrs. Johnson. If she's still up there, she'll probably know who he is."

Prue nodded.

"She's still there, same cabin," she said, and Phoebe hmm'd and looked at Prue in a condescending manor.

"I guess you go up there to think a lot?" she asked, and Prue just rolled her eyes and clasped her hands together.

"I'll meet you guys up at the lake. I should be there in an hour," Prue says as she leaves the room.

Phoebe breaths in deeply and then out, an annoyed look on her face. Piper looks to her younger sister with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you really think the thing she saw had nothing to do with how mum died?" Phoebe asked.

Piper shakes her head and places her hands on her hips.

"Nope. You?" Piper ask, popping the P as she does.

"Not even a little."

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Camp Skylark: **

At the lake Phoebe and Piper have already arrived at Mrs. Johnson's place and Phoebe's looking at a camp photo while Mrs. Johnson brings in some cookies.

"I'm just finding it hard to believe enough time has gone by for you to have grown up so much. Here, some cookies," Mrs. Johnson says and she hands Piper the plate of cookies and sits down.

"Aw, look at little Prue. Nice pigtails Piper." Phoebe laughs from her place at the mantle, looking at the picture with her sisters and other campers.

"Not fair," Piper mutters, and Phoebe turns around and walks over to sit beside Piper.

"No, what's not fair is that I never got to go to camp with you and Prue," she says as she grabs the plate from Piper and starts eating a cookie.

Piper send her a look. "Neither did Phoenix..."

"Phoenix," Phoebe echoes, a slightly confused look on her face, wondering what brought their younger sister into the discussion. "Is still over-sea's at school, and has been for seventeen years, give or take."

"Um, Mrs. Johnson, we heard you were thinking of opening up the camp again," Piper asked, after she rolls her eyes at her younger sister.

Though her mind is still reeling from her own mention of Phoenix, someone the sister's usually avoided speaking of. Not because they were mad or ashamed of their younger sister, but because it was hard on them, having not seen or heard from her in so many years.

To be honest, Piper wasn't sure why she hadn't mentioned Phoenix often, thought about her, or even really thought to ask Grams when she was alive, why they were never contacted by her.

It was almost as if everything about the youngest (known) Halliwell was repressed. No one outside the family really bothered mentioning her either, either because they forgot they even had a younger sister or what, Piper didn't know.

"Oh, I _was_. I thought it was over, and then today another drowning. I can't ask the campers to go swimming in the lake when…" Mrs. Johnson trails off.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize she was talking about when Patty Halliwell drowned in the lake. Piper shifted and began to ask another question.

"Um, we were wondering if you might be able to help us with something. Prue was up here the other day and she mentioned a man, um, older, a bit off," she says trying not to sound rude.

"I think the word that she used was crazy," Phoebe adds from her side, after swallowing a mouthful of cookie.

"We were wondering if you might know who he is?" Piper asked, frowning over at her sister.

"Sam it's the only one it could be. The man's not wired together properly. He showed up when the drownings started. He just stayed here, no friends, no life of his own. You know, with someone like that, you have to wonder what he's capable of," Mrs. Johnson replies, and Piper and Phoebe look at each other.

A minute or two later, outside, Prue pulls up in Piper's car. She gets out and stares out at the lake as Piper, Phoebe, and Mrs. Johnson walk down the incline from Mrs. Johnson's cabin and up to her.

"Mrs. J., you remember my sister, Prue," Piper states.

"Prue, of course I remember. It's good to see you," Mrs. Johnson said as she moves closer to hug Prue.

As they pull apart Mrs. Johnson looks her over and says, with a big smile on her face, "Wow! You're looking more and more like your mother everyday."

Prue looks down and moves hair out of her face.

As she looks to speak to her old camp director she couldn't help but think of how It was Phoenix who looked the most like their mother, though with lighter eyes and hair. Not wanting to drag up old memories, she answers differently.

"Actually it's Piper who resembles her the most." A awkward silence insures and its Phoebe who breaks the ice.

"People see a little of her in each of us, I think," Phoebe says, and Mrs. Johnson nods an understanding look over her face.

"Of course. Will you come see me again? This old broad gets lonely up here and I love to see my campers." she asks, and Piper nods and answers with a sincere look on her face.

"Sure."

"Well then, I bet be getting back. Bye girls," Mrs. Johnson says and turns and walks away.

"Bye," Piper says back.

"Bye and thank you for your help," Phoebe says, and Prue follows their examples.

"Bye," Prue calls back, and Mrs. Johnson disappears up to her cabin.

"She's not opening the camp, Prue," Piper says as soon as she is out of sight.

"Really, so that means it's just between us and whatever is hiding in that lake. Any word on that crazy guy?" Prue asked as she peers down at the lake.

"His name is Sam and he lives right…" Phoebe is cut off though by Prue's phone ringing.

She holds up a finger before answering it.

"Hello, this is Prue," Prue answered.

"Hey, how's my favorite auctionette?" Jack's voice asked over the speaker.

Prue gritted her teeth before narrowing her eyes.

"Fine, how's my favorite auction-ass?" she asks, an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Ooh, nice one. Hey, listen, I just wanted to let you know that since you're not here, I'm gonna take your twelve o'clock lunch with Mr. Fugimotto," Jack answers back a amused tone in his voice.

"Ah, no, no, no. Wait, Mr. Fugimotto is very particular," Prue replies, almost in hysterics.

"Prue, would your relax. I will take great care of your client okay. Later," he says as he hangs up.

Prue pulls the phone away from her ear in disbelief before almost slamming the phone shut.

"No matter how I try, I just can not figure out what this guy's deal is," Prue mutters as she put her phone back into her pocket.

"That's funny, we were just gonna ask you the same thing." Piper pipes in and Prue looks at her in confusion.

"Excuse me?" Prue asks.

"Every time someone compares you to mom you flinch. It's a compliment, not a curse."

"Is it? Because every single day, I feel like I'm becoming more and more like her, and everyday it terrifies me," says Prue as they begin walking up to where they would find Sam.

"Prue," Piper said, in an almost scolding manner.

"I mean, don't you guys see it? Look at what happened to her and then look what's happening to me. No successful relationship with guys, being responsible for a family, now because of being this charmed thing, the very real possibility of dying young, it's like history is repeating itself," Prue continues, making motions with her hands as she talks.

"Prue, that's all just..." Piper didn't get to finish as Prue turned to face them, making them all stop.

"Coincidence? I thought that we had figured out that nothing is a coincidence in our lives anymore. Like me being here when that thing attacked, it's like I was meant to be here," Prue says, and Piper sighs, before answering.

"Well, you're not exactly meant to be here when you're here every week, Prue," she contradicts

"Look, I just wanna find this Sam guy, find out what he knows about this demon, vanquish it, and get on with our lives," Prue states before turning back around, and almost storming up the hill.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**The Attic: **

Phoenix wasn't sure if this was the right way to go about things. Truthfully, this could turn badly, especially if her sister's found out about her before the right moment. She'd been gone for over a decade, she wasn't sure they would even remember her.

Who was to say Grams hadn't used some sort of magic to make them forget, or at least Prue and Piper, Phoebe was the closest to her in age, so she'd only been five almost six when she'd left. Maybe a little too young to remember much.

Flipping through the book Phoenix smiled, she had always known something was special about her family, since she'd never had her powers bound, unlike her sisters who would never remember having magic or finding out about it.

"What are you doing here Phoenix?" A male voice asked from the attic doorway.

She didn't bother looking up just began flipping through the pages telekinetically until she found what she was looking for.

"I'm looking for the demon, what does it look like I'm doing, Leo?" Phoenix asked, and Leo sighed and ran a hand through his dark blonde hair.

"The sisters could get home at anytime Phoenix, they aren't ready for you yet." Leo said as he came to stand In front of her and the book.

Phoenix looked up her green eyes sparkling with mischief and her mid-back length blonde hair fell into her face softly.

"They won't be here for a while, they're at the lake, at Sam's." Phoenix said.

Leo's eyes widened, and he orbed out.

She chuckled before looking back down to the entry.

The Water Demon.

"We'll avenge you mom, I promise," Phoenix said softly as she traced the words in the entry before shimmering out.

.

.

.

A few minutes after the sister's had left to find Sam, Phoenix shimmers onto the dock and sees the demon and Mrs. Johnson.

She had never been to camp with Piper or Prue, but she had visited once with her mother, she had barely been old enough to remember, and she was pretty sure the only reason she remembered as much as she did was her demon blood and becoming a jinchūriki at a young age.

The point was Phoenix knew who the older women was, she glared down at the water and conjured a single white rose which she then dropped into the water.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save you, Mrs. J," she whispered, and turned her back on the place her mother had died, on the demon which took her mother away from her and her sisters, and began to walk up the hill which her sisters had already made it up earlier.

Just as she is walking up the hill Prue, Piper and Phoebe have entered Sam's cabin.

"Sam? Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting demons," Phoebe says as she creeps around, and Pipers smiles in amusement.

"I guess he's not home," Piper said as she looks around for any sign of the supposed crazy man.

Prue in the mean tine is also looking around. As she looks through some sheets of paper and finds a picture of their mother, her hair a light brown with blonde highlights, and a big grin on her face.

She holds back a gasp but can't stop herself from speaking.

"Oh my," Prue says softly, and Piper is instantly alert to any danger.

Phoebe and her walk over to their oldest sister's side.

"What? What is it?" Piper ask and she feels her eyes widen as she sees the picture of a beautiful woman in a warm brown and orange blouse, her hair wavy and a light brown, almost seeming a dirty blonde in the sun, and warm brown eyes just like her own and Phoebe's.

"What is he doing with a picture of her?" Prue asks, a bit of disgust in her voice.

"Who is this guy?" Piper asks, and Phoebe stares down at the picture of her mother who she doesn't really remember with wonder.

"Or what is he?" She breaths.

Prue shakes her head wondering just what he is, her hands going through a bunch of newspapers.

"Okay, he has articles on every single drowning at the lake, that can't be coincidence," Prue tells them as she stands up straight.

Phoebe has put the picture of their mother into her pocket without really thinking about it, and Piper finds a birth certificate.

"New York teacher of the year, Sam Wilder. In 1872?" Piper asks as she shows her sisters the certificate. Phoebe raises a eyebrow and shakes her head as if to clear it as she ask the question on all three of their minds.

"Okay, so this guy is either 127 years old or…" Phoebe doesn't finish though, Piper beats her to the punch.

"A demon," Piper finishes, matter of factly.

"Named Sam? A demon named Sam?" Prue asked, trying to find another reason for the certificate. "I mean, can't it be his grandfather's certificate? After all, he did save me. I can't see a demon doing that."

Prue just didn't feel as if Sam being a demon was the answer. Part of her didn't want to believe the man could be a danger, she was right, he did save her. Last time she checked demons didn't save witches. Phoebe shrugs and whispers maybe as Piper opens a drawer and finds a bunch of folded letters.

"What are these? I found..." Piper was cut off for the moment by Leo orbing in and scaring her, making her jump back into the desk, shutting the drawer as she did, her hand clutching her chest.

"Whoa! Leo, hi, what are you doing here?" she asks, a annoyed look in her eyes.

"Come on, we have to get outta here. Sam could be back at any minute," Leo says, and Prue shakes her head confused.

"Wait, you know Sam?" she asks and Leo nods a almost guilty look on his face.

"Come on, we've got to…" he begins, but Prue cut him off.

"We are not going anywhere until you tell us what you know. Who is Sam?"

Annoyance is an abundance in her voice as she narrows her eyes at Leo.

"Sam was your mom's... Whitelighter," Leo finally states.

.

.

.

"Sam was mom's Whitelighter?" Piper asks, surprise clear on her face and in her voice as they walked down the hill from Sam's cabin.

"Emphasis on was. When your mum died, Sam clipped his wings. He's mortal now, but once, yeah he was a Whitelighter. He looked after your mother."

"Then he lost our mom," Phoebe stated, a look of hurt clear in her eyes.

"To the same demon you're fighting now," Leo admits, and Piper glares at Leo before speaking.

"You knew? This whole time he's been living up here while…" Piper was cut off by Leo.

"I couldn't tell you. What would it change? It would only distract you, maybe even gotten you killed. I mean, you guys were going to have to face this thing sooner or later. I'm here to make sure you do it with a clear head. Emotions will get the best of you if you let them," Leo says a almost pleading look on his face. "And they could get you killed, if you're not careful."

"Well, can you really blame us?" Piper asks."How can we not be emotional?"

"Leo, he let our mother die," Phoebe said, hurt the main emotion in her voice.

"Leo's right, this isn't about mom and it's not about Sam either. It's about a demon who's waiting until tomorrow for brunch to be served," said Prue, and Piper looks to her sister startled.

"Mrs. J's not opening the camp," Piper reminded, but Prue just shakes her head, her hand on her hips.

"That doesn't end it, it just stalls it," Prue says.

"You guys are behind and need to catch up. Book of Shadows, get a working knowledge of this demon before you face him," Leo tells them.

Phoebe clenches her fist slightly before breathing out deeply.

"Hmmm, said like an unfeeling professional. This is personal for us, Leo," Phoebe said.

"Leo doesn't do personal anymore, he just does his job," Piper tells her sister as she glares bitterly at Leo who looks at her, hurt, before answering.

"Now that I've done it, I guess there's no reason for me to hang around," he said, before he orbs out.

"Okay, he's gone. Now you can explain," Phoebe says as she turns to Prue expectantly.

"Explain what?" Prue ask as if nothing happened.

"Why you're acting like all of this doesn't phase you, Prue. We are talking about how our mother was killed," Phoebe demands as they begin walking to Piper's car.

Prue never got to say anything though as Mrs. Johnson's screaming filled the air.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP ME!"

The sisters turn and Piper looks confused.

"Is that Mrs. Johnson?" Piper asks as she lets her arms fall from her hips.

They all run back to the dock, Piper and Phoebe run onto it but Prue stands on the start, unable to go further.

"Your hand, give me your hand! Prue, what are you doing? We need you!" Phoebe yells, leaning over and outstretching her hand towards Mrs. Johnson.

Prue can't seem to move though, she is frozen as she stares at the end of the dock. She starts thinking about the day her mother died and when she saw her in the body-bag.

"Get off the dock! It's her! It's taken her over!" shouted the same man from before, and who they're sure is Sam comes running from the hill.

Phoebe looks behind her, and then back just to see Mrs. Johnson go under the water.

"Oh my God," Phoebe mutters, and Prue gasps as the water starts to bubble.

"Get off the dock now!"

Water squirts up in the air, and they run off the dock, barely making it off completely.

"Why didn't you listen to me? I told you to stay away from the lake. It only kills in the water. Why didn't you listen to me? Nobody ever listens," Sam says in hysterics as he comes to a stop in front of them.

"We know who you are," Prue said sternly, and Sam's eyes widen slightly before he speaks in a not so convincing manner.

"You shouldn't listen to people in town, they'll just tell you I'm crazy, but I'm not."

"We know you worked with our mother," Piper said.

Phoebe speaks from beside her, "And lost her."

Sam looks at each of his dead love's daughters and winces, he can see her in each of them. In Phoebe's eyes and lighter brown hair, Piper's eyes, and mannerisms, and Prue's eyes (other than color), stubborn streak and in her facial shape somewhat.

"I knew you'd come. And then when I saw you," Sam says as he looks to Prue. " It's in your eyes, your mother."

"You have no right talking about her. You lost that right when you lost her." Phoebe walked passed him, turning back to her sister's. "Why are we dealing with him?"

"Because we need to know what he knows. Sam, you have to tell us about the demon," Piper says as she and Phoebe follow after Phoebe and him.

"No, no, you can't fight this thing. It's under the water but it has a … it thinks. You never know where it's gonna be, _who_ it's gonna be. Sometimes it takes over its victim's bodies to lure you to the water. Sometimes it doesn't. Leave now, please! Forget you ever came here. Forget you ever knew," Sam insists, but Prue shakes her head a look of condemnation in her light eyes.

"How can we do that? It's out there killing. We can't just walk away." Prue tells him, and Sam looks at them each with blue eyes, filled with sadness, regret and pain.

"You really wanna know what I know?" he begins. "I know you're not strong enough or well versed enough in your powers to take this thing on. I know that you have the same power as your mother, The power to freeze. And you know what happened when she tried to use it," he looks at Piper, but then turns to Prue, " And I know you'll let your emotions get in the way, you'll lose focus and you'll lose your life. That's what I know," he finishes.

Prue shifts on her feet, looking down for a moment before looking up, a look of stone in her eyes.

"Well, you obviously don't know us that well because we're not leaving," she says, and Sam smiles regretfully.

"Strong, willful, just like Patty," he states, and Prue frowns, her eyes becoming a lighter green as she glares.

"I'm nothing like my mother," Prue almost snarls.

"But you're here. Just like she was," Sam replies.

"But we'll beat it. Now, you have just one choice. You can either get on board or get the hell out of the way," Prue said as she turns to walk to the car.

Piper and Phoebe follow her. Half way there Sam ran up behind them.

"The power of three," he whispers this part to himself, but then continues, "Okay, okay. If you're gonna do this then you're gonna need me to help you."

The sisters all turn to him but before Prue or Piper can get a word out Phoebe starts speaking.

"Alright, enough of this. How do we kill it?" She asks, having had enough of the whole situation.

"You don't," he says as he blows magical dust on them, "Now, you're going to go home and go directly to bed. Then when you wake up tomorrow you will not remember coming to the lake, or discovering the demon, or meeting me. I can't let it happen again," he orders, and Phoebe yawns before they all turn to leave.

He watches as they drive off before he turns to head back up to his cabin.

He arrives a few minutes later, and as he enters he realizes he isn't alone. Sitting in a chair he didn't realize he had was a women, in her early twenties, nearly straight blonde hair, and beautiful green eyes (similar to Prue's, he realized). She was wearing an orange tank-top and jean shorts, black ankle boots are on her feet.

"Hello Sam," The woman said, and Sam enters further hesitantly.

He doesn't know this woman, but at the same time she looks familiar.

"You know me?" he asked, and the woman stand up, she's rather tall, about 5'7, or at least she would be if it wasn't for her boots making her seem closer to 5'10.

"Now I know Grams did a good job of erasing peoples memories of me, figuratively speaking, but she couldn't have done that well," she said, and Sam took a better look at her.

She looked like Patty, younger and obviously different, just like Prue, but there was no mistaking her hair color which while a golden blonde, was similar to Patty's when it was at it's lightest. Her bone structure, and facial shape was also similar to Patty.

"Phoenix? I thought Penny..."

He didn't know what to say. He may not have been a Whitelighter anymore by the time Penny had sent Phoenix away to keep her safe, but he knew from sources what had happened. He remembered Phoenix, born only eleven months after Phoebe, he had suspected that Phoenix wasn't Victors kid but he had never really known for sure.

"Sent me away to Konoha? Yeah...I got my memories and powers back about two years ago, give or take. She never intended me to never remember. You know the dust wont hold, right?" Phoenix asked as she walked around, trailing her hand along the desk.

As Sam watched he couldn't help but compare her to a predator, cunningly stalking their prey.

"You know..but how?" Sam asked, he hadn't seen anyone down at the lake except for the sisters.

"I shimmered, grams did tell you I was half-demon, or was it someone else? Turns out Mom was right to fear I wasn't Victors, to me Victor will always be my father, what little he was around, but turns out a demon seduced mom that new years eve; I am the result," Phoenix said.

Back then he would have never guessed the cute baby was half-demon, but she was right, he had known she'd displayed the ability to shimmer as a baby, and was half-demon. Patty had told him through tears after Phoenix developed the power.

"What do you mean it wont hold?" Sam asked, he had dosed the sisters with a bit more memory dust then was required, there was no way...

"You don't think the Charmed ones would fall pray to decades old memory dust do you? The only reason that dust worked for you was because you used to be a Whitelighter, but now your mortal. I suspect Prue will remember first, also Piper has the love letters between mom and you, and Phoebe has your picture of mom in her back pocket," Phoenix said as she moved a chunk of hair behind her ear.

"How do you know this? If I remember right your main witch power before Penny bound them was Deflection not Premonition." Sam said and Phoenix smirked.

"I'm half-demon and a shinobi, Sam, I have my ways. Not to mention I've been watching and protecting them for months now, as I got used to life outside the barrier, they just haven't begun to fully remember me yet. Grams' magic is still effecting their memory, and desire to question where I've been."

"I see, I guess I should have given them a stronger doss," Sam said, and Phoenix smiles, just like Patty.

"I'll be back Sam, Just remember in order to fight your demon you'll to help Prue fight hers." Phoenix states before shimmering away, leaving Sam to his thoughts.

**.**

**.**

**.**

The next morning at the manor Prue, Piper and Phoebe all exit their rooms, more or less awake.

"I fell asleep, woke up, and suddenly it's Thursday," Prue said as she knocked on the bathroom door.

The door opens almost instantly, and Phoebe exits with a damp towel on her forehead.

"I don't feel so good," she mutters as Piper comes up to them, scratching her arms. Prue jumps back slightly at seeing the red rash, and Phoebe raises a eyebrow at her older sisters.

"Oh! What's that?" Prue asks, and Piper shrugs.

"I don't know. I woke up and now I itch everywhere," she replied, and Phoebe removes her towel from her head and looks at Piper before making a suggestion.

"It looks like the time Prue got poison ivy."

"But Prue got poison ivy at camp and…" Pipers says but is interrupted by the doorbell ringing. "I'll get that."

Sighing the sisters move downstairs. Piper answers the door to find Dan standing there holding a tray with bowls of cereal on it, and orange juice. Piper looks confused as she looks from the tray to his face, alternating which arm she scratches randomly.

"You don't look hungry, you look confused... and you're contagious," Dan said, seeing the look on her face, and Piper shakes her head as if to clear it before answering.

"Dan, what are you…?" she trails of and Dan holds out the tray slightly.

"Breakfast. Me, you, here, remember?" he tries to job her memory, and Piper shakes her head.

"Uh, everything's a little hazy this morning," Piper says.

"Well, is there anything I can do?" Dan asks as Leo orbs in behind the door.

Piper notices and looks at Dan with an apologetic smile.

"You can hold that thought," she says and she flicks her left wrist freezing him in place, and then closes the door.

"What are you doing here, Piper?" Leo asks, and Piper looks at him shocked.

"What are _you_ doing here? I live here. What, are you checking up on me and Dan now? I thought we talked about this," Piper said, and Leo shakes his head.

"It has nothing to do with you and him, Piper. Why aren't you up at the lake?" Leo asks.

Prue and Phoebe walk into the foyer from the sitting room.

"What lake?" Phoebe asks, and Leo looks at her and sighs trying to find the proper way to word this.

"Look, nobody has shut down the camp, so the kids are on their way there now," Leo begins but as Prue, Piper and Phoebe look at each other confused he nods his head, and asks, or more like states, "He did it didn't he?"

Prue shakes her head confused.

"Did what?" she asked.

"Who did what? Who is he?" Phoebe asks. "Leo?"

"Sam, used a powder, sort of like a supernatural mickey. He must of gotten it from…" Leo didn't finish as Prue beat him to the punch by remembering somewhat.

"Mum," Prue says looking at the ground in wounder, like she was remembering something she'd forgotten.

"Good, it's fading. As I was saying he must have kept some of the memory dust from his Whitelighter days. Now, concentrate. It's sort of like remembering a dream. The lake, the kids, the demon, Sam," Leo began, trying to jog their memory.

Piper looked up and said with a look of confusion, "Sam? But why would he do this to us?"

Leo sighed and looked into Piper's brown eyes, seeing the reason he loved her in them.

"To keep history from repeating itself," he said.

"Oh okay, just a sec, you guys scoot. Go, go, go," she says making shooing motions, and Prue and Phoebe walk into the parlor, or living room depending on what one wanted to call it.

Piper gets back into the same position as before as Dan unfreezes.

"Dan, I know we were supposed to do this this morning, but I'm really not feeling up to it," Piper says.

"Well, I'll cook while you scratch," Dan suggests.

"I can't, there's just some stuff, family stuff going on," Piper replies sadly, and Dan nods.

"Say no more. I completely understand," he replies, and Piper smiles.

"I'd kiss you but…" she indicates her arms, and he chuckles.

"But you're contagious. Tomorrow. I'm just glad you can tell me these things," Dan said, and Piper forces a smile.

"Well, I feel like I can tell you anything." As Dan leaves, and she closes the door she finishes talking to herself, "Except that there's a demon."

"And that you're a witch," Leo adds, but is shut up as Piper gives him a scolding look.

"Sorry, that was…" Leo begins but Piper frowns and finishes for him.

"The truth," Piper said, and Prue and Phoebe reenter the foyer.

"We should go get dressed," Phoebe said, and Prue nods but then takes a towel which Phoebe still had and grips Piper's arm with it as she leads her to the staircase.

"And the only place you will be going, contagious girl, is back to bed," Prue said, and Piper scratches at her arm.

"But…" Piper begins, but Prue wont hear it.

"But nothing. You just look in the Book of Shadows for this things Achilles heel."

"But what if there isn't one?" Piper asks, and Phoebe calls after Piper.

"Then we're screwed!"

**.**

**.**

**.**

While everything was going on between Sam, Prue and Phoebe at the lake, Phoenix had shimmered into the manor.

She was very quick to use her stealth to her advantage as she peaked over the wall in the dinning room, and into the kitchen. She had watched as Prue convinced Sam to help earlier, thanks to her natural stealth and the Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding with Camouflage Technique).

She'd also seen how Phoebe had used the memory dust to get the kids to stay out of the water. Phoenix didn't know what she was going to do, exactly, but she knew she had to help her sisters.

She sighed as she listened to Leo and Piper read off the love letter's between Patty and Sam. She hadn't known her mother and Sam had seen each other.

From what she did know, her father and mother had split for a few months before they knew Patty was pregnant with Phoebe. They got back together and stayed together until about two or three months after she was born, when they finally got a divorce. That was sometime in late 1976 or early 1977.

Listening to Piper and Leo though made her feel as if she were intruding on a special moment. It was as if they had written the letters themselves. She could see the love between the two easily. It was almost unbearable to know that the two of them couldn't be together.

Even she, as new as she was at this, knew it was forbidden for Whitelighter's and Witches to be together. It also made her heart clinch as it reminded her painfully of her and Itachi, what little time they had in the strange relationship they'd had.

She silently cursed the elders as she listened.

"It's like I could've written these," Piper said, as she lowered the letters.

"I wish you had," Leo replied, a longing look In his forest green eyes.

Phoenix sighs she wished they could find an easy way to be together, Piper and Leo were soul mates she was sure, as sure as she'd been about her and Itachi. It hurt to look at them though, it reminded her of love she'd lost in the past.

Itachi may have been her soul mate but she'd had other love interest, before and even after him. But none could compare; Itachi had died only a few years ago, before the war truly kicked off, it was still kind of fresh as she'd not had time to mourn properly after she'd heard about it.

"What would it have changed?" Piper asks before looking down at the last letter.

"Looks like this one is about our water demon. "You can't be with me up at the lake. This demon is too strong and I can't risk losing you, not for myself or the others you protect. They must as always come first. You know I'd never face this demon if I didn't think I'd be home in time for dinner to see my girls, to see you."" Piper frowned sadly, forcing back tears. "She never came home. When did this happen? Where was dad?"

Phoenix wonders the same thing. February 28th 1978, she would have turned two that October, and dad had left them almost two years before.

"Your sisters need to know about Sam, and your mum, Piper," Leo says.

"And if this demon is as strong as she thought, then they're going to need me, but how do we get there in time to… Can you? I mean, is that breaking the rules?" Piper asks, and Phoenix smiles rolling her green eyes, _'_

_What rules haven't you already broken, sis?' _she thinks and holds back a chuckle at Leo's next words.

"What rules haven't we already broken? I'll have to hold you," he replies and takes a hold of Piper before orbing out. Phoenix sighs as she shimmers out after them.

.

.

.

At the lake Prue, Sam, and Phoebe were standing in front of the main cabin overlooking the lake. The campers were all safe, and out of harms way in concern to the water demon, but there was still the water demon to deal with.

"It's time Sam. We need to know. How was mum gonna vanquish it?" Prue asked, looking at the former-Whitelighter, and Sam shook his head.

"I don't know. I failed, I lost her, isn't that enough?" Sam asks.

Seconds after the words left his mouth, Leo and Piper appeared in orbs.

"Whoa, that felt really…alright, oh, laying down now," Piper says, shaking her head as she falls onto a chair.

Just as she did a shimmer appeared in front of Prue and to the side of Piper. Phoebe jumps as does everyone else, other than Leo and Sam who had already figured out who it was, and Piper's hands shoot out to freeze her.

"Demon!" Phoebe yells, ready to attack hand-to-hand, and Prue readies herself to use her power only for Piper to realize she isn't freezing.

"She isn't freezing..why isn't she freezing?" Piper asked, looking from her sister's to Leo.

"Good witches don't freeze," Phoenix said smirking and Prue glares, looking the girl over, as she does she can't help but feel like she knows her.

"They don't shimmer either," Prue states, and Phoenix laughs.

"True...I'm half-demon, half-witch. My witch half is powerful enough to balance my demon half, making me immune to Piper's power, because I'm a good witch. If I weren't chances are I'd freeze," she explains, wanting to get the hard part of the reunion over with. It was true though, if she were anything other than half-witch, she'd probably freeze, good or not.

The sisters look at each other.

"Is that possible?" Piper asks Leo, not looking convinced.

Leo sighs, and nods, frowning at Phoenix.

"Yes, but it not heard of a lot. She is actually the first known case of a witch having a child with a demon," he confirms, and Prue glares, but as she takes in the girl appearance a look of pain comes over her face, and slowly realization sets in.

"Phoenix?" Prue asks, hardly daring to hope she might be right, and Phoenix turns sharply.

While she knew thanks to the fact there were pictures of her still in the manor that her sister's still knew she existed, she hadn't expected them to catch on this quickly. Not to mention Grams' magic, whatever she'd done to repress their desire to ask about her growing up, or wonder just why she'd gone over-sea in the first place and never contacted them in seventeen years, hadn't fully left them, even a year after her death.

She should have expected it of Prue though, she was the oldest when she'd left home, and the strongest of her sister's magically. No doubt she'd shake off the left over magic from grams' mojo first.

"You..remember?" Phoenix asked, a shocked look in her eyes. "I didn't expect you to even recognize me, it's been years..."

"Of course I remember you, though you've been gone so long. Oh..Grams is in so much trouble," Prue said as she narrowed her eyes dangerously.

Piper and Phoebe look confused, and Phoenix sighs, figure it would only be Prue to remember first.

"Whats going on?" Piper asks and Leo frowns before speaking up.

"Phoenix here is...your sister Piper." The silence that followed this statement was defining.

"What! That's not possible, I mean...Phoenix is in Japan, or China...at school!" Piper almost yelled, and Phoenix winced, she had almost forgotten what good lungs Piper had.

"No, he's telling the truth, this really is Phoenix. She has mom's cheekbones, bone structure...her eyes even if they are green. Though I always thought Victor was her dad as well," Prue said, a little confused on that last part.

Piper and Phoebe traded look, and they of course remembered their baby sister, they just had a hard time believing this was her, after years and years of not hearing from her. If Prue vouched for her then it had to be true, and it was hard not to see the resemblance between this woman and their sister, just older than the four, nearly five year old they remembered.

The women did look a bit like them, more so Prue and their mother then the other two, but the resemblance was still there.

Though Phoebe, who was barely a year older, sans a month, than Phoenix, couldn't bring forth more than a few small flashes of a girl with long wavy-curly blonde hair, and green eyes very similar to Prue's. Piper had an easier time recalling the same thing, but still couldn't believe Phoenix was back.

"Nix, it's really you?" Piper asks, though it sounds more like a statement, and Phoenix smiles brightly – so like their mother she realizes.

Phoebe reaches forward, and places a hand on Phoenix's arm as if to be sure this wasn't some hallucination brought on by the stress of facing the demon that had killed their mother.

Phoebe gasps, eyes fluttering closed on reflex.

_'Phee-Phee, give me back my doll!" a small chestnut brown haired five or six year old exclaimed, pulling on one end of a doll. _

"_No, it's mine, you gave it too me!"_

"_You took it!" _

"_Did not. You gave it to me..." _

"_Didn't, you took it!"_

_Narrowing her eyes, the smaller golden blonde girl twitched her nose and the doll shot out of little Phoebe's grip and into her own. She smiled brightly, while Phoebe stood staring at her little sister with wide eyes and annoyance written all over her face. _

"_No fair, you used your gift!" _

"_Phoenix, Phoebe what have I told you two about fighting," Grams said, coming into the room with a sigh. "You're just as bad as Piper and Prue where at this age. Phoenix I've told you not to use your powers on your sister's...and Phoebe..." Grams smiled softy. "You won't remember a thing. Powers used and sights seen, replace the memory of the last scene." _

_Little Phoebe stared off for a moment before blinking and narrowing her eyes as Phoenix. _

"_Hey, that's my doll!" _

Phoebe felt the premonition end and she was staring at her sister's, each with a bit of worry on their faces.

"Pheebs?" Piper began, "Are you alright?"

Phoebe smiled, before answering. "I'm fine, I was just seeing into the past...our past with Phoenix. It was me and Phoenix, we were fighting over a doll. Actually I think it was the same doll Prue and Piper fought over in 1975 when we went back in time last year. It was eerily similar. This is really Phee-Phee."

Phoenix groaned, but still smiled

"I was hoping to keep that nickname forgotten."

The four sister chuckled shortly, knowing things were about to get serious, there was no more time to wait.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Prue shook her head, clearing it, knowing there was no more time to reminiscence about the past. They would have plenty of time later to do that.

"Okay, enough, we have a demon to vanquish. By the way, what are you doing here, Piper?" she asked, looking over at her sister, and Piper pointed a finger at Sam.

"He loved her," she said, and Prue and Phoebe's eyes widened.

Phoenix just smirked, she already knew this.

"What? Who loved who? What is she talking about, Leo?" Prue asked.

"Sam," he answered and turned his gaze to said man. "We Found the letters, Sam."

Sam sighed, looking down sadly. Phoenix looked to the man sadly, realizing just how hard it must have been for him, being unable to save the woman he loved when it was his job to guide and protect her.

"Patty and I…" Sam began, but Piper finished for him, tired of waiting.

"Fell in love," she said.

"In the letters she told you to stay away. Not to go to the lake," Leo said and Sam nodded, a look self loathing on his face.

"But I did. I wouldn't have for anyone else. I should've followed the rules, not fallen in love. I never would've been there if I hadn't fallen in love. I never would've distracted her, and she never would've died," Sam said, clenching his fist and trying not to look any of them in the eye.

Phoenix looked at him sadly, putting a hand on his arm as she spoke, "You couldn't have stopped what happened. Mom made a choice, you can't blame yourself for that, she wouldn't have wanted you to."

"Phoenix is right. You loved her, and you blame yourself for her death," Phoebe said in understanding.

For the first time since she had met the man she felt sorry for him. He couldn't have done anything to save Patty, if her mother had done what she suspected, given she had the power of Molecule Immobilization like Piper did.

"Don't you blame me? Everyday I wake up and for just a second, just a second, I think maybe it didn't happen. Yes, I blame myself," Sam said, raw emotion clear in his voice.

"I understand, Sam, believe me I do. But we have to see past our emotions to deal with this, Sam. So do you," Phoenix said, and Prue nodded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Nixie." Prue said, and Phoenix smiled in return.

"Even so, it doesn't change the fact that I didn't see it happen. I tried to warn her and she froze me," Sam said.

Phoenix sighed, it looked like she wasn't the only one who figured out why her mother had frozen Sam from Phoebe's look.

"Why?" Leo asked, and Phoenix rolled her eyes at her sister's Whitelighter, and her own by extension.

"Why do you think?" she asked, and Piper stood up and finished for her.

"Because she was trying to protect him."

"Protecting was supposed to be my job. I couldn't help her, I don't know how I can help you, I didn't see what happened." Sam said, looking at them with sad eyes.

He wished he knew how to help them, he didn't want to see history repeat itself. Phoenix sighed, looking to Prue and then Phoebe. She knew where this was going, if only she could take Phoebe's place, but she didn't have the power of premonition.

Her powers were vast, but had nothing to do with seeing the past, present or future.

Prue frowned slightly, not wanting to do what she was about to do, but knowing there wasn't any other choice.

Looking over at Phoebe, she said, "I know somebody who can see anything."

Phoebe's head whipped over to Prue and she stared, wide eyed in some terror.

"Oh, no, Prue, wait a minute. You tiptoe around the subject of mom, you deny looking like her, you can't even go to the end of that dock because you're afraid to walk in her footsteps, and now you want me to relive her last moments? How is that fair?" she asked.

"Pheebs, we don't have a choice. Your the only one who has the power to see this, unfortunately. If I could I'd do it for you," Phoenix said, her green eyes peering into brown.

Phoebe's eyes widened and then she blinked and tilted her head a bit, realizing her sister was right. Still, she realized in that moment just how little she knew about her little sister. Just from the last few minutes she could tell she was a bit like Prue.

Despite being the youngest she acted older than her age, and it showed. At the same time she had an air of innocence about her.

"It's still not fair Nixie," Phoebe said.

"It's not. None of this is. Mom's death, Sam's guilt. But I'm asking you to help me end it," Prue pleaded as she clasped Phoebe's hands in hers.

Finally, Phoebe nodded.

Piper bit her lip in concern for her sister as Phoebe walks over, and hesitantly takes Sam's hands which he is holding out. She gasps a second later as she is hit with a premonition.

_She see's Patty's on the dock. Patty grabs a power cable, readying herself for the demon. Seconds later Sam comes running towards her. Waving his arms around as he gets closer, shouting. _

"_Patty, look out!" he exclaims. _

_Patty turns around shocked, the power cables in hand as she sees Sam. She wares a sad expression, but determination is set in her eyes as she flicks her hands out, freezing him in place. _

_As she turns around the water demon raises up and a whole wave of water falls on top of her. She starts gasping as she collapses on the dock the water entering her body and she begins to drown from the inside out. _

The vision ends with Phoebe coughing rather violently, clutching at her throat, tears swimming in her eyes. Phoenix is instantly by her side, rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down.

"Did you see her? Are you alright?" Piper asked in quick succession.

Phoebe nodded, a look of disgust on her face as she struggled to get the words out.

"It was...horrible, I felt what she felt. The demon, It entered her and drowned her... from the inside."

The four sisters winced, the mention of their mother's pain too much to keep totally impassive.

"Phoebe, in your vision, what was mum doing?" Prue asked.

"She was using something on the dock. Something... a wire, maybe?"

"A power cable?" Leo asked.

"Makes sense. Electricity is the only thing that separates water particles," Piper declared.

Phoenix looked at the end of the dock and bit her lip. The question remained what they would do different.

"So, what do we do differently?" Phoebe voiced, taking the words Phoenix had thought.

"Maybe nothing. Sam, would mom's plan have worked if she had finished?" Prue asked, turning to Sam.

"Absolutely. You mother wouldn't have tried if it wouldn't have, so I have no doubt."

"Great, then we have nothing to loose except our life," Phoenix muttered bitterly.

Sam winced and Phoenix sighed.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong," she said.

He simply nodded,only glancing at her once. Piper smiled, she remembered Phoenix a little more than Phoebe, and it was good to see that she hadn't changed quite as much as it appeared at first glance.

"But you said her power, my power, doesn't work against this demon," Piper said, drawing the attention back to the situation.

"So that's it. We use mom's plan with one difference. The witch at the end of the dock is not gonna be the one with the power to freeze," Phoebe said.

Phoenix looked to Prue and grimaced, Prue was starring at the end of the dock with foreboding.

"It's gonna be me." she said.

They all looked at her, and Phoenix shook her head.

"It doesn't have to be you Prue. I can do it, my powers are more active, I can shimmer, you can't."

Prue turned to Phoenix and narrowed her eyes in determination, shaking her head.

"No, I have to do this. I have to face this or I'll never move on. You and Phoebe were too young to remember, but I saw her, dead, because of that thing," Prue said, spitting the last word out like venom as she stared back at the lake.

"We'll do it together, then, but I want to be in the lead. I know your the oldest Prue, but I'm half demon, and I have more powers then you, then any of you," she replied, and Prue sighed, knowing Phoenix was just as stubborn as any Halliwell.

"Fine, but I'm right behind you."

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Are you ready?" Piper asked a few seconds latter.

Phoenix turned to Piper along with Prue and the two sisters both nodded.

"Yeah," Prue answered. "We're ready as we'll ever be."

"You don't have to do this," Sam suddenly said, coming to stand in front of them.

"Yes, I do. We do," Prue said, taking a glance at Phoenix.

"I need to do this, to be there. I may not be Charmed but I'll help them as much as I can."

"Just focus on the demon, not what this is about," Phoebe advised them.

"Right."

"Forgot how good this feels," Sam said as he watched Phoenix and Prue start walking to the dock.

He was worried, he didn't wish the sisters harm, but he also knew this was their destiny. Phoenix had also been right, she may not be Charmed but she had her own destiny with her sisters. She was just as special, her power, nearly equal to that of the Power of Three, if not more so in some ways, was proof of that.

"Really? How's it feel to be mortal?" Leo asks, glancing at the former-Whitelighter.

"Why would you want to know that?" he asks, noticing the quick glance Leo gives Piper he smiles and nods knowingly. He turns back to see Prue and Phoenix standing on the start of the dock.

"Let's go face our demons," Phoenix whispers to her as they walk onto the dock.

Phoenix picks up the power cables. Taking a shaking breath she moves closer looking at the water below.

"Be ready," she told Prue, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves. She hadn't thought she'd be this effected, she'd seen so much death in her short years that she'd thought she'd be handling it better.

She supposed no one truly handled facing the thing that killed their birth mother well.

"Okay, you in the water. I know that you've been waiting for this. For me. Well, here I am, so come and get me. You took what matters most to me and as long as I live, you will never kill again."

She hears Prue whisper beside her, and she nods to Prue who keeps her hands on the switch. The water starts bubbling behind them, though they don't notice it.

"Prue, behind you!" Phoebe yells."Phoenix!"

"PRUE! PHEONIX!" Piper yells.

Phoebe and Piper start running towards the dock.

"Piper, wait!" Leo yells taking off after them, but Piper stops, turns and freezes him.

The water demon rises out from under the water.

"No! Not them! Take me!" Sam yells as he takes off running as well.

Piper was too stunned to stop him and she turns back, sickened as the water demon sweeps over her two sister, flashes of playing with Phoenix, helping her eat soup while badly sick take over her mind.

It feels like slow motion that Phoenix gasps, dropping the cables and pushes Prue away, using her telekinesis to make her fall back closer to where Piper and Phoebe are. The demon then consumes Phoenix before she can shimmer away, and she falls to the dock gasping for air.

Her green eyes, unusually light and clear, widen as she clutches as her chest and neck in shock. She hadn't expected this, she'd gotten to cocky...let her emotions get the best of her. She felt like she paralyzed from the inside, unable to think clearly. She was dying.

"Phoenix!" Prue yells running forward. "Please, no."

Sam's eyes widens as he takes in Phoenix's form on the dock gasping for air. He instantly flashes to Patty's face, dead; history was repeating. He collapsed to his knees in front of Phoenix, grasping her shoulders.

"You bastard, come out of her now, take me instead. It's me you want!" Sam yelled shaking Phoenix's shoulders.

Prue stares from her position kneeling on her other side, and he can feel the other two sister's behind him, watching with horror, unsure what to do.

He stared into her fearful green eyes for a moment before crushing his mouth to her, prying it open and breathing in, willing the demon to enter him instead. The Sisters all watch in shock and terror as their youngest sister's life hangs in the balance.

In what an odd blue transparency mist-like appearance it leaks from her body into his. He pushes back as soon as he was sure the water demon had left Phoenix and he started gasping as well. Phoenix began to cough violently, and spit up a little water.

With Prue's help she sits up, and Phoenix's eyes widen as she stared at the man who had saved her life.

"Sam," she mutters sadly.

He had saved her, and now he was in danger of dying.

"Stay back!" Sam exclaims, as he picked up the power cables Phoenix had dropped. Phoenix was helped up by Prue, who pulled her back a bit looking at Sam with sadness.

"Now!" he cries.

Prue swallows back bile and squints her eyes at the switch, her arms still holding Phoenix, trying to warm her cold body. The power turns on and Sam is electrocuted. He falls to the ground the demon evaporates in a smokey mist out of his body.

"No, Sam," Prue said, as Phoenix stared at him a few tears leaking down her face. Phoebe and Piper run up to them as Leo unfreezes.

"It's gone, it's finally over." Phoenix kneels down, holding Sam's head in her lap.

"I'm happy your safe," Sam said. "All of you."

"Leo, do something," Phoebe urged.

Leo moved from his place at Piper's side and knelt in front of Phoenix and Sam, holding his hands he tries to heal Sam. The light comes but fades almost as fast with no results.

"What? Why isn't anything happening?" Phoenix demanded.

The ability reminded her a little of the Mystical Palm Technique Medic's used to help heal the injured, though much more effective and effortless. Unfortunately it seemed to have just as many weaknesses, if not more. Even if she knew how to use the healing jutsu on the level of someone like Sakura or Tsunade...she doubted it would help Sam.

"Because it's not meant to," Piper said in resignation.

"It's okay, it's time to go," Sam declared.

"No," Prue mumbled, shaking her head. Her near black hair flying around her face slightly.

"I did what I've been waiting to do, I kept it from happening again. History won't repeat itself now."

Phoenix looked at him sadly, eyes tearing up though she refused to let them fall.

"But you're going to..." Phoenix trailed off her voice small.

"I'm going to see Patty again -" he turns to Leo. "- Don't lose her."

He turns his head to the side and smiles a shocked look comes over his face as he starts to mutter.

"Patty? Patty?"

Phoenix looks to where he is and smiles, she can't see what he does but she knows who he is seeing.

"Say hi for me, for us."

She heard Prue tell him, and she knew she understood as well. She smiled at Sam one last time.

"Thank you for saving me Sam," she said and then watched as he closed his eyes, and ceased to breath.

"We should...call 911 or something," Phoenix said as she laid his head down on the dock, and stood up. Prue pulled her into a hug, and sighed when the sister's pulled away a few seconds later.

"I'm sorry Nixie, but I'm glad you're alive," she said.

"So am I, Prue, so am I," Phoenix mumbled as she stared down at Sam's body.

In the end, at least Sam would get to see Patty again. She wondered if she'd ever get to see Itachi again.

**.**

**.**

**.**

An hour or two later found the reunited sisters all in the living room of the manor.

Phoebe was sticking Patty's letters in a photo album, sitting in front of one of the chairs, while Piper was sitting one of the couches putting calamine lotion on her poison ivy. Prue and Phoenix were sitting in one of the chairs across from the couch, both able to share the space well enough.

"At least fighting this demon came with a consolation prize. I mean, it didn't bring mum back but these brought her closer. We got our little sister back out of it as well!" Phoebe said, smiling at her younger sister.

Phoenix laughed and smiled back as Phoebe stuck on of the letters to the page.

"True, I still can't believe grams actually pulled this off," Prue said shaking her head.

She was the one who remembered the most about Phoenix, Piper also remembered well enough, but Phoebe was barely a year younger than Phoenix, and her memories of Phoenix were faded because they had been so young at the time, especially Phoebe.

"Grams was a great witch, powerful and resourceful."

Phoebe nodded, agreeing with Phoenix's words.

"That's right, the premonition I got off Phoenix was intense...I usually don't get audio or not much at least, but in this one I instinctively knew what was being said, and I saw Grams casting a spell on me to make me forget Phoenix using her power to take the doll."

"Well, that's probably to do with it being more of a memory, your memory," Phoenix said. "Subconsciously you remember more of it than you do consciously. The premonition brought it to the forefront is all."

"So that's how Grams kept magic and demon attacks from us," Prue muttered, before shrugging.

Piper nodded, and looked over at Phoebe who was putting the last of the letters into the album.

"It's a good idea, Pheebs. Making a journal out of mum's letters," Piper said as she concentrated on her arms, patting the lotion on her arms.

"Yeah, not as good as the real thing though," Phoebe replied.

"Nothing ever will be," Phoenix said.

"We have each other though," Prue declared, smiling.

"Nothing like four sisters living together to kill a mood," Piper teased before she looks over towards the doorway.

She takes a sharp breath when she sees Leo in the foyer area. Piper sees him but thankfully, Phoebe, Phoenix, and Prue don't. He gestures with his head for her to go over there and Piper puts her stuff on the coffee table and stands up.

"Um, tea. You three want some tea? I'm gonna go get some."

"Sure," Phoebe without glancing up.

"None for me Piper!" Phoenix called after her sister who'd already left the room seconds before.

Looking over at Phoebe and then at Prue beside her, she bit her lip. There was no time like the present to ask, she supposed.

"So, you think I can move in?" Phoenix asked, with only a little hesitance.

Prue looked to Phoebe and both nodded.

"Sure, you can move into the Basement until we can get a room built on," Prue said, and Phoenix nodded while Phoebe shuddered at the thought of the basement.

"Or you know, you can sleep in Grams' sewing room, I think there's a daybed still in there," Phoebe said, smiling. "If the basement get's too creepy."

Phoenix chuckled and shrugged.

"I think I can handle the basement for now...than again, I may change my mind. Did you ever vanquish the Woogy?"

Prue looked at her in shock, while Phoebe shuddered.

"How did you know..."

"I vaguely remember Grams mentioning the Woogy to me, and Phoebe when we were little, since Pheebs was so afraid of the basement."

"Well, in that case I'll set up Grams' sewing room for you. It's not been touched since her death, so it's probably a little dusty," Prue said, standing. "Oh, and later you can tell us where exactly you've been the last _seventeen_ years."

Phoenix paled a little at the thought of just how much she'd have to tell her sister's about the last near two decades.

_'Well, that should be fun.' _


End file.
